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Sunday, July 2, 2017

THE MAKING OF CONTAINER HOUSE: SKETCHUP, V-RAY AND POST-PRODUCTION TUTORIAL

In this tutorial, you’re going to learn how to use Photoshop
and Picasa as a tool for post-production. The practice of post-production is important
to all visualizer which deserve an in-depth study and analysis. Some would say that rendering using different
photorealistic ‘render engine’ is enough in order to come-up with a convincingly
realistic photo. However, whatever you do,
don't stop there! There are some important things you need to do to your raw
render image before it's worthy of your portfolio. The primary functions of
photo editing softwares such as Photoshop, Picasa, Gimp etc. are usually to
correct color, to adjust light intensity, to insert entourage, to make bump map
material and many more that enables you to create your own compositional style.

SKETCHUP
MODELLING

The real deal
in achieving such photorealistic image is through detailed modelling with
proper application of texture and material settings.

STEP 1: Using
the SketchUp program, make a detailed 3D shipping container with 8x40 feet in
size or you can download any available model(s) in 3Dwarehouse site that
correspond to the specification if available.

STEP 2: Make
a copy of the shipping container model> Place it on top of the other
model> Insert 3D sliding doors and windows to your model.

STEP 4: Click
on the ‘Paint Bucket’tool
icon> Choose any applicable textures from the ‘materials pallet’> Click
on the face to apply the texture.

STEP 5: Insert 3D entourage
in the scene

STEP 6: After finding your
preferred perspective view. Save your scene: view> animation> add scene.
Creating a scene in SketchUp enables you to capture a state of model, thus you
can go back to the same view and settings when needed.

V-RAY RENDERING

STEP 1: Apply the
following Vismat (V-Ray) materials to your model:

(a) Metal car paint/ Container metal paint

Car paint reflection
settings

Car paint red color 1

Car paint red color 2

Car paint green color
1

Car paint green color
2

(b) Window
glass

Reflection
settings

IOR settings

Under
‘options’, check ‘trace refraction’

(c) Wood

Reflection
and Diffuse settings

Diffuse: Old
white wood 200cmx10cm #014

(d) Grass

Diffuse and
Maps settings

Grass diffuse

Grass bump

STEP 2: All V-Ray
settings should be set in default mode, except for the output setting. Under
V-Ray option editor, adjust the output setting to 1600X1200 resolutions. When
you’re done, click the render button ‘R’.

STEP 3: Save
the following images:

Raw rendered
image

Alpha channel

Note: Alpha
channel or mask render is a black-and-white representation of all the outlines
from the scene. We will be using this image during the post-production,
specifically when we need to replace the background of a scene

POST-PRODUCTION

STEP 1: Open the last saved images in Photoshop. The ‘raw rendered
image or the main scene’ will serve as the background layer. Place the ‘alpha
channel image’ in layer 1.

STEP 2: Delete the
blue sky horizon from the background layer (container house raw render). To do
that, go to layer 1 (alpha channel image) then using the ‘magic wand tool’
select the black tinted color> go to background and press the delete key.
After that, uncheck the visibility of layer 1 (alpha channel image).

STEP 3: Insert the
forest background image to your scene. To do that, open the file image of the
forest scene> drag the image> fit the entourage image using transform
command (press Ctrl+T)> change the image view if needed by clicking
‘Edit’> ‘Transform (horizontal or vertical). Place the forest background in
layer 2.

Forest Scene

Note:
Technically, any scenery photo you find in the internet can be used as a
background element. However, you need to choose photos that match the lighting
conditions and proportionality of your rendered 3D scene.

STEP 4: Remove the
lower portion of the forest background, especially the part that covers the
‘container house’. To do that, go to layer 1 again (alpha channel image) then
using the ‘magic wand tool’ select the white tinted color> go to layer 2
(forest background) and press the delete key. After that, uncheck the
visibility of layer 1 (alpha channel image).

STEP 5: Insert grass
landscape in Layer 3. Roughly, erase the upper portion of the image using the
eraser tool.

Grass landscape

STEP 6: Insert the
following 2D entourage trees. To do that, open the entourage images in
Photoshop> drag the images to your scene using ‘move tool’> fit the
entourage image using transform command (press Ctrl+T)> change the image
view if needed by clicking ‘Edit’> ‘Transform’ (horizontal or vertical).
Place the grass landscape scenery in layer 3. Place each tree entourage in
layer 4 and 5.

STEP 7: To accentuate the shadows, duplicate the
following layers: Background layer (container house scene), Layer 3 (grass
landscape scenery), and (trees entourage) layers 4 and 5. Make sure that the
following duplicated layers are place on top. Then set the blend mode to ‘Multiply’
with the value ranging from 5-100% opacity.

STEP 8: Select each
layer that is set in multiply mode, roughly erase the portion you don’t want to
be affected by the masking effect or shadows. Result so far.

STEP 9: Add vines or
creeping plant image in the scene> set the blend mode to ‘Lighter color’

STEP 10: Save your
work in JPEG or PNG format. Result so far

STEP 11: In order to
blend all the entourage to the main scene (raw render image), adjust the ‘color
balance’ and ‘saturation’ settings. Open the last saved image and follow the
settings.

STEP 12: When done,
save your work in JPEG or PNG format. Result so far